Sunday, December 26, 2010

Hello! Yes I'm still alive. We've had a WONDERFUL Christmas! I was sick this past week so I didn't get to work on my WIP as much as I'd have liked, but that's ok. I'm not going to go on and on because if I do, I'll never accomplish my goal for today, which is to get addresses and letters perfected to query out my first book :) I"m going to leave you with my current word count :)8436 :) :) :)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

It's been so long................I miss blogging :( But the good news is I have been writing this past week :) Every day! I have a 45 minute lunch break at work and I spend it scarfing down food and writing. I only wish I had more time to write! I"m not getting very many words out a day, 300-450, but that's better than nothing. I find it a little hard to switch gears from my very uncreative work to the creative act of writing which gives me a slow start each writing period. But again, I'm just happy to be writing again. My word count it somewhere between 6,500 and 7000, but I"m not sure specifically because I"m not on my laptop right now. As for my poor attempt...I tried to blog on my phone, which is a backflip but it's too hard. I can type in a title just fine, but when it comes to this part, the actual blog, it's hard to make my phone type in the box rather than pulling up it's automatic search box. And when I was able to get it to type(I'm not sure how I did) I couldn't do certain punctuations(my "shift" key didn't work like when I'm texting). May be I'll get my hubby to play with it and figure it out. *shrugs*A quick update on life in general is: The house is feeling more like ours and baby's mess certainly helps. As for baby, he's 18 months, but the terrible two's started several months ago. Hubby and my duties changed a little bit since I've started working, but for the most part everything has fallen into place. I can't wait for Christmas and I have gotten half, maybe more, of my shopping done! *Wipes brow*Ok, that was a very compact update from the last time, almost a month ago, that I posted. Hopefully I'll figure out how to post from my phone despite my hatred for typing long paragraphs on a keyboard smaller than my hand. If not, hopefully I'll be at my in law's in the next week or two and I'll have another writing update :) Keep on writing and reading!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Not willingly I assure you. Life has taken over and writing and querying and blogging has taken a backseat to it. I may have mentioned it but again, I don't have internet at my new place :( I have truely missed it! So here's a recap of what you've missed this past week:1. Got sick Fri. night.2. Moved on Sat.3. Spent Sunday on the couch sleeping.4. Started a new job on Monday.5. Worked, unpacked and took care of baby for the remainder of the week.6. :( I've queried 5 agents by email and gotten 3 rejections, 1 out of office, and 1 we received your query and will respond within the next 6 weeks if we like it :(This next week at work will be the next big learning step for me and I'm not done unpacking and cleaning our new place, so writing and querying will probably take the backseat for another week. Oh, plus there's Thanksgiving! Yay, I love Thanksgiving! Anyways, I will be scarce in blogging for a while which makes me sad, but I can't afford internet right now(because even though I actually live closer to town, I'm considered living in the boonies.) Makes no sense! Ok, I"m off to explore the 'net :) ....Oh, one last question for me? Where am I at right now that I have internet? Sunday dinner at the in-laws :)

Friday, November 12, 2010

Word count: 4,951I still have more to type but I'm so tired the flow of words is trickling to a stop despite the rest of the scene in my head.Just to let you know, we're moving this weekend to a place that doesn't have internet and I start a new job Monday; so I'm afraid my blogging might slow down, but hopefully not for long. I love blogging; it's my public declaration of accomplishment and humiliation and helps motivate me :)Anyway, see*wink* you soon! Have a great weekend!

I'll try to decide whenShe'll lie in the endI ain't got no fight in meIn this whole damn worldTelling you to hold offShe said hold onIt's the one thing that I've knownOnce I put my coat onAnd how I know it's all wrongShe's standing outside holding meSaying oh pleaseI'm in loveI'm in love

'Cause without meYou got it allSo hold onWithout me you got it allSo hold onWithout me you got it allWithout me you got it allSo hold onWithout me you got it allSo hold onWithout me you got it allSo hold onHold on

I find that so far for this WIP I'm leaning on the same music; mostly the Twilight soundtrack for now, but I'm sure that will vary to include more of New Moon and probably Eclipse after the dvd comes out. I love how Robert sings this song and the lyrics. They are perfect for Twilight.More importantly :) word count is currently at 2,814 and I am more happy with what I added to chapter one to round it out :)

Yesterday I substituted and managed to write during the teacher's planning hour. My word count is now 2,118. I also wrote out a tentative outline and then tried to put it together better last night. I didn't do a great job :(As for the rest of life, I'm having to switch baby sitter's because of my new hours once I start my new job next week. I'm meeting her tomorrow; let's hope we all click *crosses fingers*. What else? Sorry, nothing more for today. Hopefully I'll get some more words down and have another word count update :) Have a great day!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

974 words down today! *(I'm ammending that to 1,536)*Yup, that's right, I've started my new WIP and for right now I'm riding the high of starting a book. I know the hard work is coming (can you say detailed outline 'cause I like to know kind of how I'm going to get where I want to go) but for right now, I've got the first part of this WIP on Word.In other news I finished Need by Carrie Jones in one day. Yup, it was that good :) Ok, I"m off to continue to reward my writing and 2 hours of cleaning at the new house with some more internet time :)

Keep writing, even if you think it's crap, you can always fix it later. If the page is blank, there's nothing to fix!

Monday, November 8, 2010

I picked up some supplies and horse feed Saturday and ate lunch with hubby, mil, and fil over at the new house. Then because although baby wasn't running a fever any more, he still didn't feel well, I headed home. I'm sure I did something else that evening, but for the life of me I can't remember! Sunday was full of church, family time and moving some stuff to the new house, and then more family time. I'm still waiting on edits of my query letter from bil(reminder, Brother In Law), so I haven't queried yet. I'm feeling a little in limbo because while I know what my next wip is(I'll capitalize it when I actually start writing) I'm still a little stuck in the story I just finished. I did the same thing going between editing my first book and while taking a break I brainstormed a lot for my next book. A few days after getting back to editing I had a light bulb moment and could look back and see how I was drifting into one story and into/out of the other. Very surreal and pleasant once I realized what was happening and that I wasn't just being a slacker. Ok, I must admit my fear(s). 1. I have a new story to write and I need to get back into that world. 2. I still have to do the "work" part to my last book; aka get it queried out to an agent.3. Nobody will like my book!4. I have several awesome books from my birthday that I really want to read, but I really need to get into my next book.5. Not enough time because I took a different job :( Yup, I'm going to be a bank teller. I love substituting but it isn't steady enough to make the house payment, so I'll be moving on. In the back of my mind I'm dreaming of a day when I can be a published(and paid) author and substitute teach and support my family. Big dreams, lot's of work, but I am up to it! I hope :)Keep on keeping on! Face those fears!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

I finished draft 4 today, 11/5/10. And then I formatted it so that as a manuscript it was ready to go. Draft 4a was typed in Arial font, size 11. Draft 4b was changed to Times New Roman, size 12. 4a was 230 pages long and 4b was 245 pages long. It absolutely amazes me how much of a difference that made. Why didn’t I write it that way originally? I don’t remember how draft 1 started out, but as I started editing, so D2-4, I changed the font(just once) so that I’d be in “editing” mode. Did it work? I think so. Draft 4, which is my final draft *crosses fingers* for now(hopefully the book sells and reality says if it does, there will be another draft) ended statistically this way:Word count: 72,203Page count: 245What now? I’m waiting for editing/comments on my synopsis from bil, I need to fix it, specifically address my queries and then query my book! Yay! Sooooo close! There’s only one agent who requires a synopsis, so I’ll probably query most before the synopsis is ready for her.I hope you all are reaching your goals!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

When a world-traveling relative blackmails 16-year-old Vassar Spore's parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia, Vassar faces things she isn't prepared for--including a family secret that turns her world upside down.I've got my entire life planned out for the next ten years ' including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize, claims 16-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, daughter of overachiever parents, who in true overachiever fashion named her after an elite women's college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar's parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia. On a journey from Malaysia to Cambodia to the remote jungles of Laos, Vassar sweats, falls in love, hones her outdoor survival skills'and uncovers a family secret that turns her whole world upside-down. Vassar Spore can plan on one thing: she'll never be the same again.

P.S. I got edits from bil for the last three chapters!P.P.S. Baby has went 3 hours without a fever this morning!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

I've realized that I've done a lot of posts about stuff other than writing lately. That's not why I started this blog, but then I've just realized that I hardly ever blog about riding and that was one of the reasons I started this blog. But this blog is a true reflection of my life and I have decided that I can do what I want with it. It is my blog, right? So for right now because life is busy and I'm on the tail end of editing D4, writing and tracking it isn't completely consuming.What was that? You want to know what is consuming me? Well, first of all baby has been running a fever off and on(mostly on and high) since yesterday morning. I hate when my baby is sick! The other worry...thing...whatever you want to call it, that is consuming me is a job offer I just got. It pays less than substituting, but is 40 hours a week and steady. There are pros and cons to both jobs. I'm not too worried about providing for my family, God will do that, but what I am worried about is making the decision that God wants me to.As for writing, which is once again at the end of the post, I'm at chapter 16 for my 3rd read through and still waiting on chapters 19, 20 and 21 from bil. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be putting this book out on submission minus bil's input for those last three chapters. Of course, as long as he responds before any requests for a full manuscript(I can dream!), I will include his edits :) Ok, baby is crying, so I'm off

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I couldn't think of an exciting title, so I just chose hmmmm... Really it should be as boring as yesterday's only titled Tuesday. I spent two hours cleaning at our new house this morning and baby was very well behaved. Unfortunately on the short ride home he spiked a fever. After a little snuggling and worry on my part(plus a little medicine for him) he fell asleep. Unfortunately I have in town business I have to attend to, so hopefully the little bugger is feeling better when he wakes up. After a long hiatus, he finally started saying mama again. I am thrilled to not be lumped into the same category as hubby and be called Da for the rest of baby's life.Once baby went to sleep I had lunch and then picked up on my third read through of D4. I've made it to chapter 12 and my eyes are tired! I've given them a few breaks, but this is a hardship I've been facing constantly when editing for the past couple weeks. I'm hoping it's just the fact that I tend to stare really hard at the screen while I edit. Soon I'll be writing a new story and hopefully my future more relaxed stare(which often tends to be inward rather than at the computer) will ease my aching eyes. And in case you were wondering, yes I am still waiting on bil's edits. He claims he's actually been working! I know, shocking, right? Also, he doesn't have internet at home, so he can't do it after work either. I feel like a kid a Christmas because I'm so excited about sending this book out. I only hope I can keep it up.Once again let's talk about NaNo. I'm still disappointed about not participating, but considering a different option once I start writing. And this option may be for December instead of November or not, I'm not sure. It's called WEED, or Write Each and Every Day. No days off! I'd like to also apply a daily word count goal but this troubles me because I'm very busy and it's going to stay that way between substituting, trying to find a more reliable job, getting the new house ready, moving, and the holidays. I think it will be enough for the next couple of months to just stick to the goal of write each and every day. Even though I'm editing right now, I am doing pretty good about EED, so hopefully I'll be able to stay dedicated to WEED once I start. We shall see. Ok, I'm off to go continue my 3rd read through of D4. I think to save you from the monotony that is my life, I'll do a Cover's I Love blog :) Gives me an excuse to look at books anyhow!

Monday, November 1, 2010

The busyness just doesn't end. I have a lot on my to do list and has been done list. After church and family time yesterday, I let hubby take a nap. I only wish I could have taken a nap too! Instead I got three loads of dishes(kitchen sink, done by hand, not by dishwasher since I don't have one) done, took out all the plastic to the recycling bin, vacuumed out my car, and went out to eat with baby and hubby for supper. After some more much needed tasks, I finally went to bed. Today I went to a job interview(which I don't think went badly, but wasn't great either) and then dropped off my resume at another business. After baby went down for his nap(which is ending as we speak)... I finished D3 of my synopsis, decided I am satisfied with my query, sent both off to bil, and started my third read through of D4. I am still waiting on chapters 19, 20 and 21 edits to come back from bil. So soon I will be querying and officially done with my first book! I must admit when I realized today was November 1st and therefor the first day of NaNoWriMo, I was a little disappointed to not be participating :( But I wish you luck to all of those that are!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

1. Moving bil 2. Trick or Treating 3. WIP 4. Life 5. Gift buying 6. Yard saleling(ok, I only went to one, but still) 7. Taking care of baby 8. Shopping for paint 9. LaundrySee, I have been(or in the case of 8 and 2 will be) busy this weekend and it's only 1:35 p.m on Saturday. Last night I helped move bil(ok, I chased baby around while hubby helped) and today hubby helped finish(mostly) moving bil(brother in law). So it's official, our "new house" is now empty and we can paint, clean and move in! Let's see, what else???Oh yeah, I've made it to chapters 19, 20, and 21(final) and have done my first read through. I'm waiting on edits from bil to finish those chapters up. I've also been reading through my synopsis, which I need to send to bil to have him edit and make suggestions. After that I need to do the third and final read through of D4 and then it's time to query! My query letter is only missing a few things: final page count, final word count, the word complete :), and just before I send it out, I need to personally address it to each agent. Woopee! I'm sooooooo close I can taste it and yet I still feel so far away. I almost want to drag this out because last night I was thinking about how comfortable it was to be in the story as compared to the new story I will soon be drowning in. But no, my goal is to get this book published so that other people can read it and hopefully enjoy it :) Ok, I'm back to the synopsis. Have a great weekend and Halloween!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

So today makes the second day I'm not substituting this week. And Friday the kids have off school and tomorrow is a 1/2 day soooo... The good news is I"m getting work of a different sort done.I"m up to chapter 16 on D4! Baby went with his Papa to get his hair cut (I didn't want to take him because he screams blood murder). That gave me an hour this morning and now I've been working on it during his afternoon nap. Yay progress! The negative side effect is that staring at the computer makes my eyes tired and so I miss some mistakes that luckily my beta reader caught. I'm wondering if I should be doing my third read through out loud?? Something to think about :) Keep on keeping on!P.s. Sorry this isn't exciting, I'm just taking a quick breather from editing and can't get myself into a creative mode, there fore, the boring post :)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I finished Alpha by Rachel Vincent. One word (that in no way lives up to describing the book), AWESOME. I will be doing a review of this book too and posting it, ummm...sometime :)

Oh, I've made it to c12 of D4 and I've skipped several chapters doing a third read through. I think I'm going to save the 3rd read through for the rest of the chapters until I finish with c21. And then I query!!!!!!!!!!! And wait............And write my next book!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made it through chapter 10 yesterday and started chapter 11. I was also substituting. I'm so grateful I had great students. However, my husband pointed out I should check with a teacher friend to see if it's ok for me to work on my WIP while substituting. My response was, well it's ok to read a book, so why not? But just in case, I will be checking. Otherwise I will stick to just working on my WIP during my planning period and may be lunch. Now, the bad news...I worked diligently on my WIP but not on transferring my handwritten blogs. Hmmm....I guess that means...well I don't know what, because when it comes down to it, my WIP needs to come first. Ok, that's all I got's for now! :) Have a great day! ( I know I will because I didn't get called in! )

Sunday, October 24, 2010

It has been a while since I've blogged and I've been busy almost every minute! I substituted Thurs. and Fri., we closed on our new house Thurs., went to a housewarming party Fri. night, hubby and I spent almost all day Sat. together just me and him, and we went to church and out to eat this morning. Plus in between I've been taking care of baby and trying to stay somewhat up on house work.So I"ve got a plan to help keep up with blogging. While I sub I've been writing in a notebook and what I"ve been writing is blogs! Yay! So that just means I need to take the time to put all those on the computer and then copy and paste! Also, I've been slacking on D4 because hubby has felt neglected. So I've also come up with another idea to take care of possibly blogging, but way more importantly, my writing. Every teacher has a planning hour, which means I have an hour that I have nothing to do. I will be taking my laptop to work with me and editing during that hour. But still...between work, baby, hubby, moving my bil(brother in law), moving ourselves and working on our new house I will be very busy for the next, oh couple of months at the very least! I'm kind of sad because I am coming to terms with the fact that all this busy-ness is going to ruin my plans for NaNoWriMo. It is vitally important to me that I get my current WIP queried out before I actually start writing a new book. That's life though :( Ok, I"m sure all of you are crazy busy but I implore you, keep that goal front and paramount. Even if you only get a couple hundred words in a day or only 1 page edited a day, that is one more than if you cleaned your house, or went for a walk, or sat and watched t.v.One last thing, I've edited chapter 9 now!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Mmmm Hmmm, that's right, I'm working! *dance* Sidetrack: The nice thing about *dancing* on the internet is that it doesn't matter I actually have no rhythm; the thing that matters is I can type "dance" with *'s surrounding it and you guys can get the picture without the horror(or embarrassment) of actually seeing me dance ;) Ok, lets set this up again. I got called in to sub for a HS Science teacher an hour before I had to be there(which actually gave me plenty of time.)---1st hour: -cologne(big difference between hs and ms boys, lol)- sleeping kid= my heart rocketing - quiet(12 kids) - some days(or every day?) you, as in the student, just don't care---2nd hour: - paper rattling - 12 kids---3rd hour: - groan - complain - 21 kids - long sleeves - so far not as (obviously) sneaky as MS kids - old friend at a glance---4th hour: - Rowdy :) - openly sneaky - 25 kids - green ink not hot - again rowdy - sophomores---Lunch: - chat - nerves but at least I had food!---5th hour: - Recognition - Oliver a teenager, Impossible - talked about - rotten in a completely nice way---6th: - 9 kids - food makes my random thoughts list much shorter, but I really don't mind!

I had a great day at school and I've been productive at home. I managed to finish up chapter 8 my edits and bil's edits, but I still need to read it through again :( But I did spend 30 minutes on it :) Also, I've blogged and come up with the brilliant idea of prewriting blogs while substitute teaching(I need something to do that will be ok if my flow/creativity is stopped in its tracks as I actually do my job, he, he).

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Here's a list of random thoughts during my first day substitute teaching. Let me set this up by saying I subbed for a middle school, with a mixture of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students; also I forgot about breakfast(I got called in at 7:50 a.m.) and didn't have cash for lunch--lucky for me I just barely had $1.50 for a soda.

3rd period: 1. Is everybody sick? Lots of sniffing! 2. Headache 3. Starving 4. Rotten kids! 5. Funny and yet not funny, that you can read a kid so stinking quick(dramatic, frustrated, impatient, bored, and possibly obnoxious) 6. Need to work on seeing the good in point # 5. 7. Countdown 8. Sneaky whispering escalates. 8. Cursive s's look funnyLUNCH- 1. None 2. Mtn Dew Yum! 3. Still have headache.4th period: 1. Balance. 2. Is this okay?5th period: 1. Surprise, it's a sub! 2. Suspicion. 3. What is it with piling stuff on your desk while doing your work?6th period: 1. QUIET(one student).7th period: 1. Four minutes is not enough time for a kid to go to their locker, go to the bathroom, wash their hands and get to class on time in 3 story building. I barely had time to go down 2 flights of stairs, go to the bathroom, wash my hands and walk back up two flights of stairs! 2. HEADACHE 3. Stinking kids! 4. Needy 5. Pep talk needed. 6. Reading can backfire 7. HEADACHE

Monday, October 18, 2010

Yup, I said substitute; that's what I did to day and I"ve got a few more days scheduled :) Yay work!I've finished c6 of D4, another Yay! Ok, I know it's short and sweet, but that's all I've got. Keep on writing!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Yes, it's pretty here, but just wait until you see it in person! I saw this in Borders yesterday and couldn't resist picking it up. I must admit that the story didn't yank me in the first couple pages; which isn't to say it wasn't good, but I thought the story would yank me in as quick as the cover did. Really, the truth is I needed any excuse I could find because I can't spend a lot of money right now. Here's the blurb and honestly, this is going on my tbb(to be bought) list.

There hadn't been any trouble out at the lake in years. Sunshine just needed a spot where she could be alone with her thoughts for a minute. But then the vampires found her . . . Now, chained and imprisoned in a once-beautiful decaying mansion, alone but for the vampire, Constantine, shackled next to her, Sunshine realizes that she must call on her own hidden strength if she is to survive. But Constantine is not what she expected of a vampire, and soon Sunshine discovers that it is he who needs her, more than either of them know.Originally published as an adult novel, but now in YA for the first time, Sunshine is an alluring and captivating vampire story; one that will ensnare fans of paranormals everywhere.

Friday, October 15, 2010

OK, I've almost completed editing c4 of D4. So far I've been reading through each chapter and fixing any punctuation, wording, etc.(mostly little stuff) and then I look through each chapter with the corrections my bil(brother in law) sent me and fix all that I agree with(which are most of them, but not all :) Then I try to do one last read through of each chapter before I move on to the next. Let me tell, you, that 3rd read through is the hardest. I feel like by then I'm not catching much. In fact I"m considering leaving that 3rd read through until I'm completely done with the book. Right now I need to do that 3rd read-through on c4 before moving on to c5. So mostly I've changed some punctuation here and there(I'm not that great with commas) and I"ve rearranged the wording of some sentences, but I have made one major change although I've done it subtly enough(IMO) that I didn't really have to do any major reconstruction. Basically, all of my beta readers(even the 2 who puttered out after a few chapters) have agreed that I wasn't detailed enough in the explanation of how the family of my leading lady works. After my beta readers finish the book, I'm going to send them a "new" chapter 1 to see if they think the changes I made were enough.Other than adding a bit more detail to the inner workings of the family, I feel like there's not much I want to change about my book...so far :) I do have 17 more chapters to go. I"m shoot for having draft 4 done by the end of October, D4 being the final draft before querying, and having my beta readers take a look at my query and synopsis, then querying my WIP out. So hopefully by October 31 my WIP will be out of my hands. I'm wishing you productive writing, or riding, or whatever your passion may be!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ok, I'm going to start with what's difficult in life. I mentioned yesterday that baby no longer gets a binky and now he has a cold--as in coughing, sneezing, green snot-- this is proving to be a terrible time to have taken "it" away. I will persevere though!I have started on Draft 4 today. Yay me! No I mean seriously YAY me! I have been very reluctant to do this, for multiple reasons, but last night I really decided and felt the urge to just do it! Of course, being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't actually do it until today :) I did however send an email to one of my beta readers who hasn't sent me any feedback other than "more please." LOL. Her response was that we need to have a "book club" meeting or a long phone call. Lets face it, meetings are far easier than phone calls for me because of horrible cell service at my house and a 16 month old, so a meeting it is! For now though I will start with just myself and my one other beta reader. I had 3/4 and now I have 2. My m-i-l got bored, she's busy with work and paranormal ain't her thing, and my mom likes to read off and on which isn't fast enough for me to edit. So I'm down to my bil(brother-in-law), who isn't necessarily into paranormal but has still been great, and my cousin("more please.") Oh yeah, and... ME! Let's face it (he, he) it is my book and therefore my opinion is important!So I've started with chapter one, I read through it and made a few changes here and there. Then I read through bil's edits and comments and added/changed what I agreed with. Now I need to do one more read through but my eyes were getting tired. So instead, I came here to blog! Ha, ha, I seriously crack myself up. But none the less in one hour I have almost completed c1 of D4. I've got a main goal that I've been working towards and baby steps have helped me along the way. I actually failed part of my main goal, but I'm mostly ok with that. I failed at finishing the whole book in one year from the day I first started racking up the word count. That date was October 4th, but again, I'm ok with that because: 1. I have a draft3 synopsis, 2. I have a query letter I'm pretty darn happy with 3. I want my book to be as close to perfect as I can get before querying it out and 4. I still haven't failed the second half of my main goal, which is to have the book queried out to agents before the start of 2011. I have kind of switched the order of things getting done around in that I've done some preparation to query(letter and synopsis and list of agents) before the manuscript is COMPLETE, but that was because I needed a break from the grind of editing. And I feel good about where I'm at for the most part. What was that? You want to know about the for the most part? Well I have a shiny, 2 month old idea that is going to be my next wip and I'd like to be working on it come November and so...I must finish my current WIP before I start on my next wip.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Well I finally managed to work on my synopsis and tweak my query letter. What was holding me back? Well, this weekend, I decided that for my son, the Binky would exist no more. All in all, this weekend went ok. Nap time today? Not so good. He woke up after only an hour, sobbing and took forever to calm down and then go back to sleep. By forever, I mean like hour. Talk about exhausting. But I have managed to go all the way through my synopsis again and shorten it to...12 pages instead of 13. Lol, I am so glad that the agents so far that I'm planning on querying that want a synopsis didn't give a page limit! All right, I don't have much else to say. Oh, yeah, came up with a great scene for my next wip on Friday. Now I think I need to crack down and start on D4 of my current WIP. I kind of dread this because I think it will be the hardest yet. Each draft is like going through layers of rock to sand. Big, easy to sort through rocks at first, but they finally get to tiny grains of sand that you have to comb through to find the pieces that don't fit. Picture that, pieces of sand that don't fit in with all the other tiny pieces of sand. It ain't easy I tell you! Ok, now for real, I'm done. Keep on writing!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Let’s start with my main chick. So far I’ve been lucky in that my current WIP and my next WIP main chick’s name came to me right off. I just knew the names were right. Naming everyone else was a little harder. I had a list of who would be in the book and an idea of how old they were. From that point, I searched up girl and boy names from the year those characters would have been born. Now, I don’t just pick a top ten names, or even always top 100 names, but I think a lot of the names from my current WIP came from the top 100 names of the round about birth year for my characters. Some names I picked just because (these are for characters who don’t play as big a role) and some names I picked because they “felt” right. That’s the point right now that I’m at for my next WIP. I’ve got a list of names, which I’ll probably add to, for all the characters that I know are going to show up. It’s not always easy to pick a name though. I’ve got two guys who are matching up to a name I really like, so for now I’m waiting to find another “right” name that will hopefully help me pick which name belongs to each guy.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

a query letter...I managed to piece together a blurb from three other starter blurbs and also chose a hook sentence that I like. Yay! I"ve got the beginnings of a query letter. I also worked on my synopsis and have managed to achieve a 13 page, double spaced rough synopsis. I'm on my way! I wasn't able to work much more on my synopsis because not only did baby go down for a nap late, he woke up at his normal time. And...he didn't really go to bed tonight very early. *shrugs* That's life for ya. Ok, off into the oblivion of reading blogs and then may be enjoying a new book I've borrowed. :)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

me :) Reminder here, this is my blog. Anywho, to start with, writing. I've dry bonesed(made up word ;) all of my WIP for a synopsis and I've got a paragraph made up for each chapter up to 18. I've been trying a new tactic today with my writing work. I work on each chapter/chunk until it's complete and then I give myself 10 minutes to play on the internet. *music/vibrating* = my phone timer went off, so lets go to commercial here...Ok, I'm back now. I'd like to change that 18 earlier into a 19 now :) I don't know if I'm actually more productive or not using this technique, but I certainly feel like it. Now, just because I'm about to mention what I'm about to mention, does not mean it will happen. I am flirting with the idea of participating in NaNoWriMo, which is National Novel Writing Month. Now I don't intend to sign up for it, just to do it on my own. The whole concept is to write a 50,000 word novel(or start of a novel) in one month. That's a big goal, but lots of people obtain it. Hmmm...perhaps I should try WEED instead? No I'm not talking about pot, I"m talking about Write Each & Every Day. We shall see...In baby news, my baby is now officially two, even though he's only 16 months old. Yes, I"m sure the terrible two's hit early. The real problem? The world is frustrating when you can't communicate. Just imagine living in France unable to speak French and no one speaks any English. You get the picture!Lets see, what else? Well my cat Jackie will probably need to go to the vet soon, read I'm all ready stressing again about money, because I think she has a uti. Ugggg!I've slacked off again on the horse aspect of life, so I'm going to try really hard to work with Rain for just a bit today and all three of the able bodied horses tomorrow. Any other goals? Oh yeah, get a job! I'm trying really hard to look for a job and wait on what God wants at the same. Let me tell you, this is a difficult task. Ok, I wish you luck and true and optimistic consideration of NaNoWriMo or at the very least, WEED :)

Monday, October 4, 2010

Love, love, love this cover. Did a little digging and while this book was written after the author's debut novel(Graceling) it is set in the same world, only many years before Graceling. It sounds interesting and will go somewhere in the middle of my TBR pile.

...here's the blurb :)

It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her. She is the last of her kind . . .

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Hubby is watching Iron Man 2 and that is some of the music I've heard. I couldn't really get into the movie and so in the spirit of being a serious writer, I sat down to work on my synopsis, dry bonesing(made that word up all by myself :) 3 more chapters. This week I've really enjoyed reading two books which I plan on giving my style of review later on this week. I read Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris and Cracker: The Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata. I've been having a good but uneventful weekend, how 'bout you? And now realizing I don't really have that much to say, I'm going to check out :) Enjoy yourselves and keep working towards your goal, even if it is one step at a time!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Well sort of ;) Today and yesterday I've been hacking away at my synopsis. I've been going through at least a couple chapters a day trying to describe each page in one sentence. When I start each day, I go back and put the day before's sentence chapter descriptions into paragraphs. Once I've done that, I move on to one sentence per one page the next couple chapters(that way I have something to do the next day *insert sarcastic laughter*. I'm up to chapter 9 for 1 sentence per page descriptions and I've done paragraphs up to chapter 7. Tedious and I'm not even half way done yet!

Anyways, last night I had a great couple hours working with my horses. I worked with all three able bodied ones :) First I round penned Big Boy and then saddled him up and lunged him a little more. After taking off the saddle I took him to the trailer where he loaded fairly easily(we're trying to stay in practice).

Next I moved on to Rain. I round penned her a little with some grooming in between. Then I proceeded to flap the saddle blanket all around her and on each side of her. She had a few panicked laps around the round pen before she realized the blanket might not eat her and it was a little easier(although much scarier) to just stand still. After that I took the saddle and tossed it on her several times from each side. She was tense and was going to walk off a couple times, but I contained her and she did okay. Finally I saddled her up and round penned her a little more.

I finished up with Nina. I round penned her and saddled her, then round penned her some more. She is the most uptight horse. Of course, I haven't worked with her(other than to haul her in the trailer some) for over 2 years, so I don't blame her one bit. Even if she's not my favorite riding horse and is a difficult ride, she needs to be working. There is no reason to have her and not be using her, playing with her, etc.

The only horse that doesn't have to work is my old man, Foster Boss, whom is completely retired. In fact I am facing the possibility that he may not make it through the winter. He's in okay weight but that's about the only thing he's got going for him. He's got a problem with his feet abscessing, he's over the knees and he's arthritic as can be. He had a long working life and with his poor conformation it's showing now, even though he's only 22.

Well so as to not end on a depressing note, here's a picture of the herd :) This was taken in the summer of last year. From left to right:

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Adelinde Cornelissen and her horse were eliminated from the World Equestrian Games! Why? While she was performing a Dressage test a ground judge spotted bloody saliva coming from the horse's mouth. Blood coming from a horse's mouth is against the rules. She was stopped immediately and dismissed from the ring. Her and her horse can't perform in the rest of the games this year. It was said that the reason the horse was bleeding was because it had bit its tongue. Supposedly the bleeding had stopped by the time the horse made it back to its stall and after the vet had examined it.

Hmmm. I suppose that I can imagine a horse is capable of biting its tongue. I think this is likely of may be an unbroke horse, a very green horse, a horse in a panic, or a horse that falls on its face(don't laugh, it's possible!) But would I expect that a world class dressage horse would bite its tongue for no good reason? Nope, I don't buy that.

Take a look at how Adelinde sometimes rides(as I'm not stalking her, I have no idea how often she does this) her horses. It's called rollkkur and in my opinion *it is my blog* I find it a cruel way to ride for more than a few moments at a time. It looks unnatural, uncomfortable and cruel if the horse is forced to contort itself like that for extended amounts of time, whether the horse is walking or cantering.

I'm impressed with the judges for doing the right thing. Even if the horse accidentally bit its tongue and not because of harm from the rider, they followed the rules. So often in the horse show world, cruelty is ignored for the sake of performance, winning and money.

Here's a couple of pictures of head positions I prefer. Now I'm not saying these photos are perfect, I just prefer the fact that the horses' noses aren't touching their chests.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I have been in a I don't want to mood today, but I sort of overcame it :) I really wanted to just sit and enjoy the book I'm reading. But I have been thinking to myself lately, what is my dream job? What do I really want to do? Well I have several dream jobs and one of them is to be a writer, but not just a writer. I want to be published, repetitively :) So I decided if that I wanted to do that then I needed to fight the mood. Right now I'm not at a point where I'm writing/aka making a word count go up. I'm at a point with my current WIP and my next WIP that requires work, but not just writing the story. I'm coming up with scene ideas for my next wip and I need to get together a synopsis and a query letter for my current WIP. I'm also sending out D3 of my WIP to get feed back from beta readers and letting those responses and D3 sit and stew for a while. What did I do today to deal with both of the above paragraphs? Well I separated out chapters 11-21 of D3 for emailing to my beta readers, I summed up my bare bones of ch. 1 & 2 into a couple beginning paragraphs for the synopsis, I basically dry outlined chapters 3 & 4, and I picked out names for all but one of my known characters in my next WIP. See, I was productive :) Not that anyone else in my life will think much of it, but it all took about one to one and half hours of time! See, I told you so! lol, ok, I'm wishing you productivity and the ability to fight the mood of I don't want to!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Today I took some time for me :) Me and baby headed to the library where I picked up the next Sookie book to read. And by next, I mean my next(Dead and Gone.) I also took the time to read to baby in the very cute kids' section of the library. Of course all he wanted to do was explore this new place, so I let him. Lucky me, there was no one else in the kids' section. He had a blast until it was time to leave. We only read 2 books and honestly he really didn't appreciate them. *shrugs* Do you know what else happened at the library? Well let me start by saying I park in a parking lot behind the library, enter through the back way which is a basement level and then I ride up an elevator to the library. While I was there, a young boy, maybe 14?, was walking around and watching me and baby. When I got ready to leave, guess who was behind me in line for the elevator? Yup! I was a little nervous until I turned upon hearing him talking to another young boy who had an arm full of books. Silly, huh? And yet...I admit A. I'm paranoid and B. Even in the rural area I live in, you never know.Ok, what else did I do? Well I filled up feed barrel with bleach and water, something I"ve been meaning to do for the past 4-5 days, then I put medicine in one of my horse's eyes, and I started a load of laundry. Which I need to go put in the dryer. Anyways, after that I had lunch, played on the internet and then...dun, dun, dun*cues dramatic music*...I read a book! Now not all of the book, but I at least enjoyed some of it :) I also managed to stop before trying to finish the book(reading should be savored, you know?) and... hopped online to research the Daunting task of writing a synopsis. Hence the post title. Let me just say, writing a synopsis really is daunting(but necessary if an agent you want to query requires one) and time consuming. Right now I'm not worried about all the little details(formatting the page, number of pages, etc.) I'm just concentrating on getting the darn thing started. I'm going to go with the method of dry outlining your chapters and then spicing up the dry outline for a great synopsis. By the by, when I say dry outlining, I'm starting with summing up each page or so of the book in one sentence. Can you say tedious???!!! Ok, I've been productive for both myself and my book, and now baby is up, so I"m off to get him!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Honestly, I may have wrote about this before, but now I can write about it as someone who has actually wrote a book(albeit unpublished, but hey, I"m one step ahead of those who say "I'm going to write a book someday...") I’m going to talk about how I’ve gotten to know my characters on my first WIP. I’m sure this will differ from others and I’m sure it will probably vary a bit for future books I will write, but for now… I had a general idea of the characters I wanted and I started with their names. Depending on about how old they were supposed to be, I searched up popular names from their birth year or there abouts. Then I read through the list and picked the name I felt suited each character best. After that I did a short description on each character. I included who they were, what they looked like, things they would do in the book and other characteristics. With my lead girl I had a “daydream” about how she felt towards the beginning/middle of the book. And then…I wrote the first draft aka D1. As I wrote D1 I got more of a feel for the characters, who they were and what motivated them. Frustratingly enough I found that my lead girl wasn’t quite as, assertive and outgoing, as I thought in the beginning. So as I wrote I started to change her to how she really was.When I went back to do D2 I changed all of the “wrong” things about her that were at the beginning. Any responses or thoughts that didn’t ring true to the “real” girl, I fixed. I also ended up switching the motivations a little bit of two of my lead 2ndary characters. Also before I continued on to D2 I wrote/rewrote/detailed out those character descriptions from before D1 existed. They are a great reference for detailing the book and for getting me back into my characters heads.As for where I’m at right now…aka having just finished D3…I’m keeping in the front of my mind who my lead girl is, and how she’s feeling about everything whether it’s what I’m editing right now and I speculate about later chapters too. I can only hope that in my next book I am more comfortable about getting to know my characters having at least some experience to rely on, even if I have to be flexible.And if I'm being honest, I'm getting to know a new set of characters too. A lot of things aren't concrete because I"m trying to be indirect about the "start" of my next WIP. So far, I've got a list of who's going to be in the book(subject to additions, of course ;) , a name picked out for my main chick, ideas of names for some of the other characters, some motivations for and what happens to some of the characters. In an effort to continue concentrating on getting my current WIP published, I'm holding off on any "serious" work. And by serious I mean that it is my main priority and I want to up the word count every day.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

So I was writing a comment in response to a question asked by Erica Hayes, the Dame for the Day over at Deadline Dames, and I decided to make my post my comment. Creative, huh? First off, here's the question(s) that was(were) asked:

Over to you: if you’re a writer: where’s your writing haven? And what are you escaping from?

And if you’re a reader, help me out here: how do you like best to interact with your favorite authors? Blog posts like this? Twitter? Facebook? What kind of stuff do you like hearing about from authors? Writing updates? Favorite reads? Cat pics?

And here is my answer:I love following other authors on blogs, it gives me a glimpse into their lives revealing…they live regular lives too! They’re not like movie stars, you can relate to them and I find that very comforting.Right now I live in a very tiny apartment, so I write on my laptop at the dining room table(where we never eat; seriously it’s covered in mail, the laptop, my purse, the 2nd and part of the 3rd draft of my current WIP… you get the picture!) When I was writing my WIP I kept the tv off and played a couple of cd’s, but now that I’m editing I usually have the tv on for background noise. If…I mean when I get published I fully intend to buy an inexpensive(sounds better than cheap, doesn’t it?) laptop that only has Microsoft Word on it. While I do use the internet for research, it often ends up distracting me…like now LOL, anyways, thanks for the post!

Also, have fun finding all my typos in my original comment at DD, cause I didn't spell check. It's first draft stuff in all its glory!

Feel like relating to other readers or authors? Head on over to www.deadlinedames.com and read the comments in response to Erica's post.

Friday, September 24, 2010

I’m not sure I’ll read this story but I love the cover. It’s by MaurissaGuibord and will be out January 11, 2011. Here's the blurb:Tessa doesn't believe in magic. Or Fate. But there's something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry she discovers in a box of old books. She finds the creature woven within it compelling and frightening. After the tapestry comes into her possession, Tessa experiences dreams of the past and scenes from a brutal hunt that she herself participated in. When she accidentally pulls a thread from the tapestry, Tessa releases a terrible centuries old secret. She also meets William deChaucy, an irresistible 16th-century nobleman. His fate is as inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's own. Together, they must correct the wrongs of the past. But then the Fates step in, making a tangled mess of Tessa's life. Now everyone she loves will be destroyed unless Tessa does their bidding and defeats a cruel and crafty ancient enemy.

P.S. I'm done with D3! Yay! Now for a short hiatus from the actual WIP to refresh mine brain!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Ok, so I'm still not done with D3 but that's on my list for today. I sent out D3 chapter 1 to two more beta readers. I've all ready gotten feedback from one person and I cringed! Lol, nothing said was mean or anything of the like, but it still hurts a little to have your book critiqued. I really do need a break from my WIP, I think I'm getting sloppy/lazy, so I'm saving all the critiques to look at in a few weeks. Also today I went to meet a second potential day care. I'm planning on substitute teaching so baby needs a day care. The only problem with the day care is there are a few days here and there they can't take him due to state regulations on how many kids of a certain age you can have. Did that make any sense? I really don't have any one else to watch him on those days, so I'm stuck for now. Other than that, he loved playing there this morning and was totally self absorbed, playing by himself almost the whole time. I think he'll love being around the other kids though :)I'm working really hard on handing over my stresses and worries to God. It ain't easy, let me tell you! I'm not talking about just ignoring that they exist, I'm talking about actively talking to God and leaving those worries in his care. Well I'm off to trudge, see I told you I need a break, through a few chapters D3. Bye.Oh yeah, I'm still working on the same shiny, not as new, idea and falling in love with it more and more. It won't be easy, but let's be honest, writing a book is hardly ever easy. What makes it easier? A story you're passionate about!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Ok, I am almost done with Draft 3!!!!! All I have to do is backtrack and read pages 166-230 to do another sweep for mistakes and changes to make and I'll be finished! I'm going to give up stat's right now though, because I feel like it!D3=230 pages, 21 chapters, and 71,907 words Compare that to:D2= 234 pages, 13 chapters and 74,163 words Compare that to:D1= 229 pages, a prologue + 13 chapters and 75,697 words

What's some major differences? Well I dropped the prologue from D1, but added enough words in D2 that the word count was almost the same! I tightened up the manuscript enough to lose 2256 words, although lets face it, that's not a lot of tightening, lol. My chapter count went up because as I did D3 I divided the chapters up in a tidier, makes more sense, fashion.My dilemma now? I'm sending out D3 to 2 beta readers. When/if I decide the mistakes/changes should be applied, does that count as D4 or is it still D3?I've got a little over a week until my goal date of having this book finished is reached. So what's my plan right now? I'm going to finish my final read over and changes for D3 and then I'm going to take a break from the manuscript. I hope to get a query letter written up and a list of agents to contact. In that time, I'll let the manuscript sit for at least a couple weeks before looking at it again and possibly applying suggestions from my beta readers. From there I really need to send it to one or 2 more beta readers and make any necessary changes. My hope is to have my WIP actually queried out to agents before January 1, 2011.In the mean time, I've got a shiny new idea that ain't going away! I've been typing up notes and doing some research for the past month or so. I'm kind of scared to start on it though. I feel like the book may be "it" for me, not that I don't love my current project, but I just have a feeling about this next idea. I also don't want to start it too soon and A. burn myself out('cause I really need to read some books!) and B. I don't want to slack off the business end of finishing up/getting my current WIP out to the world.Okay, wish me luck as I wish you luck!

Monday, September 20, 2010

1. Baby is still having loose stools, although not as often. He is still eating and drinking great and not running a fever.2. Foster is still having issues with his abscess. I'm thinking this is due to the rubber medicine boot more so than the abscess. I took off the boot this morning and will see tonight how his hoof and abscess looks.3. Scooper is still having loose stools, but I haven't found any diarrhea. After giving her the medicine the vet prescribed, she did horrible. All she did was lay on the floor and sleep. This is very unusual for her. I talked to the vet and she said to take her off the medicine for one night and then call the next day. I haven't given her any more medicine because she is slowly getting back to her normal self. Ugh!4. Big Boy has an ulcer on his eye which required a farm call from the vet, staining of the eye and now he needs medicine in his eye 4 times a day! He and Nina will be coming back to deplete our hay supply since I'm not going to drive to my brother-in-law's 4 x's a day to put med's in his eye.Other news: The appraisal on the house we want to buy seems to have went great. We should know in a couple weeks if everything is a-okay and ready to sign papers. I put in an application to start substitute teaching at one school and need to apply at a couple more schools so that I'm working 5 days a week. I'm still searching for that "perfect" job, but since I haven't found it and it hasn't found me, sub'ing it is. I'm up to page 202 in Word for D3 and I've put ink to paper for about 7-10 more pages. Ok see you later!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

I’d like to put a disclaimer on this list right now. I have a birthday coming up some time before the end of the year *g* and I hope *crosses fingers* that I get lots of books for it…or a gift card to Borders so I can pick out the books myself. What can I say? I like to touch them. As a tangent, I also like to pick up and touch bits, for you non-horsey people that’s the thing that goes in a horse’s mouth while you ride them.Ok, ok back to that list...Here's what I've read so far this year :)1. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris2. Living Dead in Dallas by C H3. Club Dead, Dead to the World by C H4. Dead as a Doornail by C H5. Definitely Dead by C H6. All Together Dead by C H7. From Dead to Worse by C H8. Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer(*This was the 3rd or 4th time**I watched the dvd’s Twilight and New Moon)9. Shift by Rachel Vincent10. Moon Sworn by Keri Arthur11. Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs(This was a reread, the 2nd or 3rd time)12.Twilight( currently rereading for the ..... time; if I pick up a new book right now, I'll completely abandon my WIP)There may be more, besides my own WIP, but I can’t think of them just this moment.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Quite literally. Now I'm thinking to myself, who wants to read about poop on a blog, but then I realized when thinking about a blog I just read by the author of Paranormalacy, that I'm doing this blog for myself. And myself is thinking about poop! Let me explain...

Baby had 4+ diapers of poop, specifically diarrhea, yesterday and 2 diapers so far today. Other than that he is eating ok, drinking a lot, acting fine except....he hasn't been napping as well(although that could be because he fell asleep before eating lunch) and he's been putting his fingers in his ears a lot lately. Now at first I thought it was just the fact he found he has 2 more holes in his body and it sounds really cool to plug up those holes and then make noise. He never tugs at this ears, or rubs at them and cries, just sticks his fingers in them. I haven't noticed a fever either. But now he has diarrhea....I just don't know.

Let's add on top of the baby conundrum the fact that my beloved Scooper, my cat who is twelve years old, has had a couple of accidents that were diarrhea and had blood in them. Okay, can we say TOO MUCH POOP! So needless to say I scheduled a vet visit for this afternoon and I currently have her poop in zip lock bags in my 'fridge. My husband is going to kill me when he A. reads this or B. sees the poop in the 'fridge(please God no!).

Ok, let's add on top of this the fact that my old man, aka Foster boss, aka my twenty something year old horse, has an abscess and keeps losing the medicine boot which means the abscess ain't a healing up! Yes I could do a duck tape boot, but it's so much easier to slide on the rubber boot by Davis! Now I have to spend this evening at the vet and then coming home to search the field for the boot so that I can soak his hoof, scrub it and once again put the boot on.

Plus I really need to get my butt in gear and break Rain. I'm having negative thoughts about her which I"m sure are caused by my stupidity and falling off. I love to ride but I need to do some fun riding. The problem is that I won't let myself because it's supposed to be more important that I break out Rain so I can sell her, as originally planned when I bought her while I was pregnant 2 years ago.

POOP!

Ok, I"m going to try to quite complaining now. Happily I've put red ink to several more pages and now just need to put that ink on Word, but....I'm rereading Twilight. Why? Because if I read a new book I will completely desert all work ethic for my current WIP. That can't happen until D3 is complete. So, there! All right, I'm done now.

Mmmmmm....One more thing. I still need a job 'cause writing a book and being a stay at home mom are still not paying cash!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

So I was wondering to myself last night, how many times have I read my WIP so far? Then of course it got more complicated because I don't count writing D1 or creating D2 as reading. Those two things do count as a "go through" though. So I scribbled out(sounds better than the truth, which is I typed it) all my "go through's" and "read through's".

1.Wrote D12.Edited D1 creating D23.Read through paper copy of D24.Started on D3= A. reading D2 and painting it with red ink B. skimming through my painted copy of D2 as I transfer the paint to word and C. going back every few chapters of D3 and reading it to check for more mistakes.

So I’ve actually read my WIP 3 times, I’ve been through it 3 times, and that totals out to 6 times!

Also I'd like to note that I've gotten to page 183 of D3 and I've put red ink to paper but still need to put it to D3 on Word up to page 202.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

This is the cover of Need by Carrie Jones. I do intend on reading this, hopefully as a birthday gift ;) Here's the blurb followed by a link to the author's website:

Zara collects phobias the way other high school girls collect lipsticks. Little wonder, since life’s been pretty rough so far. Her father left, her stepfather just died, and her mother’s pretty much checked out. Now Zara’s living with her grandmother in sleepy, cold Maine so that she stays “safe.” Zara doesn’t think she’s in danger; she thinks her mother can’t deal.

Wrong. Turns out that guy she sees everywhere, the one leaving trails of gold glitter, isn’t a figment of her imagination. He’s a pixie—and not the cute, lovable kind with wings. He’s the kind who has dreadful, uncontrollable needs. And he’s trailing Zara.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Ok, I've tripped up and slacked off on blogging! I also went on a trip this weekend out of state. It's a 5 hour drive there or back :) but it took longer due to bathroom breaks and because of baby. All in all, baby did great for the ride. Here's some tips: bring lots of snacks and a small cooler with drinks, bring a portable dvd player, bring several movies for said dvd player, bring toys that baby can play with in the car, make sure you let baby down to walk/run(if they're old enough) when you stop for breaks, even if there's no real reason to stop, do it every couple hours anyways, don't forget the pacifier, pack extra diapers and wipes, pack extra clothes in case the ones they're wearing get snacks or juice on them, and be patient! Really, for a 15 month old who has never done this long of a trip, he did great!I have been working on my book, other than Sat and Sun, despite my lack of blogging. Promising feedback from my first two beta readers :) Have a great week and talk to you soon, I promise!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

I'm up to page 149 :) Tonight I took a glance at what was the next 2 chapters and split them into 4 chapters, tentatively. Basically they were too long as just 2 chapters and it was pretty darn easy to split them up. There was no controversy or agonizing. Tomorrow I get to see our family pictures and pick which ones we want to buy :) I'm very excited!No news on the house front. I'm thinking it's a matter of being a lot of paperwork for the mortgage guy, but I'm not completely sure. I'm trying not to be anxious and to leave it to God.I'm still on a job hunt. I could be substitute teaching right now and in fact have everything done except for turning in the filled out paperwork, but something is holding me back. I'm not sure what's up with that/me *shrugs* Wish me clarity :) Ok this is a bit longer than I intended, but oh well!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

You better trust them and like who ever they happen to be. I felt a surge of fear and strangely enough, embarrassment, when I found out my first beta reader was reading my chapter 1. This is a new experience for the both of us, added on top of the fact that the type of book my WIP is, isn't quite her cup of tea. So why am I having her read it? I think she can and will be more objective about the whole thing. I have another beta reader whom I plan on giving D4 to that likes the genre I'm writing in. I know that both of them will be able to let me know about the flow and content of the book, but each in their own helpful way. I'm not going to lie, I would be thrilled if my first beta would gush about the book when she's done reading it :) She's very busy with her day time job so this will be a bit of a drawn out process. As for my progress on D3, I am up to page 133. So I have approximately 100 more pages to go. For all, I have an over active imagination, of your sake's I have decided to forgo a detailed rundown of my weekend. Suffice it to say it was LOVELY! Seriously! Keep writing, or riding, or editing, or all three! Or what ever it is you're passionate about!

Monday, September 6, 2010

I intend to go on more, potentially boring you, about my Labor Day weekend, but for now I'd like to quickly update you. I'm up to 118 pages for D3 and I've worked a little on it each day this weekend. I also got the guts to print out c. 1 of D3 and I handed it over to one of my beta readers. *fingers crossed*

Friday, September 3, 2010

I'm addicted to reading blogs and blogging. I also like to change the background of my blog every so often and since I have no tech skills, I stick with the options blogger offers me. *shrugs* Mostly I don't mind, but some day, when I'm published :), it would be fun to have a unique background. I can dream and I do! I'm not sure if I'll blog much this wknd, since it's Labor Day wknd here in the US. Right now I have no plans for Saturday; Sunday is church and a get together with my dad's side of the family(I"m really looking forward to this since it's been a year since the last one); Monday is the church picnic. I've had lots of wonderful ideas for what I think will be the next book I write. Can I say, I love research! Or at least the research I'm doing right now. Now the nitty gritty research that is involved when in actual writing process(what does Such City actually look like, how close is the nearest airport...) is not so fun, but the creative before I actually write a book research is lovely. This is despite the fact that I lack the control to stop and stay up much later than I intend!Ok I'm off to quickly *crosses fingers* compose a birthday wish list and may be a couple future blogs and then work on my WIP :)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

I’d like to start featuring some covers that I adore. Some may all ready be out, some may be future releases, just whatever I feel like. I’d like to start with The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney. This won’t be out until February 2011, when I may bring it up again *g*, but who cares? It’s a lovely cover! And I do intend on reading it.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

What inspires you? I have a couple objects that I keep near the laptop to help keep me inspired for my current WIP. I also have several pictures I found on the Internet that I keep on working cover page. While I've been editing my brain has been flirting with ideas for my next book. I have found that certain artwork is particularly inspiring to my creative side. So I would like to introduce to you, again, to the website http://www.elfwood.com/ . Should you have any other great websites with artwork or other inspiring things, please let me know!Now on to decisions... After completing my WIP in full, I'd like to make out a detailed plan for it's sequel. But then I'm wide open to other things. I have two ideas stewing around in my head, one I have a tentative story and a lead female for and one I have a character I really like, but no story. I asked myself, what do I want to write, but I don't have an answer. It's not really a big deal right now because I am determined to finish my current WIP despite reading all over the Internet that most first books don't get published. But still, what do you think? How do you decide which story to write?

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I've done a little adding and deleting to the list of blogs I follow. There were a couple that I don't neccessarily dislike but they weren't updating regularly and/or I just wasn't clicking on them. I'd like to follow blogs that I really enjoy or I feel help me keep a pinky on the industry. I found a coupld of blogs that look interesting so I'm going to try them out and if I like them I'll add them to the list.As for the blogging part, I hope to be more interesting than just making this an online journal. We'll see if that happens :) As for that blog about being busy, well it's still true, but I'm making time by typing as fast as possible :) I've applied for a job and am desperately searching out a job. Why? Well quite unexpectedly we might be buying a house, if it works out. And if not? Well I still need a job so that we can save up to buy a house when we're ready. I love being a stay at home mom and having the time to write while baby naps, but real life needs to go on. For mine and my hubby's goals in life to happen, I need a job. So while being a stay at home mom is work, I'm ready for the type of work that pays in cash. Wish me luck! Oh yeah, I have been putting time in on my WIP and I've made it up to 77 pages. Yay me!Ok, I'm writing this last, but that doesn't make it any less important. In fact, I may post more about it tomorrow for your enjoyment. I found a website, www.elfwood.com that has lots of great scifi/fantasy artwork. Go lookie loo!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Life is about to get very busy in a hurry...I hope. So I might not be posting or working on my WIP like I want to. But I hope I will! I still have my goal of the WIP being done by October and queried out to agents before 2011. I took the time today to put the ink edits for chapter 6 into Word and I looked at chapter 7. So far I'm up to like 67 pages for D3, so I'm close to halfway! I also have an "invention" idea that I'm working with my mother in law on. I'm gun ho and she's a little hesitant, but I need her help, so I'm dragging her into this, like it or not! :) Keep on keeping on!

Friday, August 27, 2010

I was furious with myself yesterday and as for today...I'm still mad, but embarrassment has surpassed my anger. I fell off my green broke mare, Rain, yesterday...TWICE! It should have never happened and it is all my fault, hence the fact I'm mad. Let's recap...I did a five minute lunge session with Rain earlier in the week that went really good. Other than that short work out I haven't worked or rose her in several weeks. Yesterday I decided it was too gorgeous a day plus I really need to get her broke plus horses are good for my soul, anyways that was a side note...I decided to work Rain, with all intentions of riding her just a little bit. As I was lunging her she gave me a couple subtle clues that she was feeling something, may be frisky? I even recall asking her if she had a burr under her saddle. Uh, hello?! Anyone else see a big hint right there? But noooo, I ignored it because like I said, the clue was subtle(even though I did notice it!) She was doing so good for not having been seriously worked in a while that I decided to go ahead and ride her. In a normal situation I have enough caution(read fear of falling) that I would have either lunged her a lot more(although she is out of shape so this isn't much of an option) or I would have just not gotten on her. Yesterday was clearly not my best day for being normal. After riding her at a walk for a while and dealing with her wanting to keep going to the same spot in the round pen to be closer to Foster who was eating hay next to the round pen, I decided she was being so good(I was ignoring the fact that every time I cued her away from Foster I kept thinking, this could make her upset) I wanted to trot her. So I did. It took two strides of trot and there was the mounting block coming up and I could tell she wasn't sure which way to go and I hadn't told her which way to go(I've been trying to work more on stopping on command than steering). So she got antsy, taking a couple quick steps and I started bouncing and she started bucking(big crow hops, no kicking out the hind legs) and I lost my balance and fell. I got up as quickly as I could and got back on her. She was still upset from what happened and I once again ignored the warnings. We walked ten steps maybe and a horse fly landed on her shoulder. What did I do? Leaned forward(read put myself off center and out of balance on a tense horse) and smacked the horsefly. What did she do? Crow hopped forward and off I fell! What should I have done. Never got on her in the first place. But since I did, I shouldn't have gotten back on her so quickly after the first fall. What did I do after the 2nd fall, ran her butt around the round pen and then had hubby lead me around on her for half a lap or so. By that time she was still nervous and breathing hard. I knew I had to get on her again and she needed lunged 'cause she was acting stupid after the 2nd fall, but I know that all of it should never have happened. It was a bad experience for us both and that makes me furious at myself. So make sure you follow your instincts people! If you know what you're doing, trust that! Don't ignore your gut.Anyways, writing-wise I have a very basic and tentative outline started for the sequel to my current WIP. I also have a few scene ideas for it. Now the not so good news is that I still haven't wrote the scene I need to add in, although I have put ink to paper for the next chapter. I'm just not in the mood to write it plus while I have a tentative idea of what should happen, I'm not feeling it. I don't know if the idea is wrong or what. Ok, problem needs to be tackled head first. I'm stopping blogging right now and I'm going to write that scene even if it's slush. At least I can edit slush; it's hard to edit a blank page!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

I was tired but I couldn't fall asleep. So what did I do? I did a little research on a niggling little idea. I really like looking at pictures for information so most of my time was spent looking at Google images. Unfortunately I couldn't find the picture I was looking for. I don't even remember when I saw it, or the title and so I can't find it. Drove me nuts! I also did some regular research which in turn was useful for sparking that niggling little idea while I had some alone time driving today. I'm still not sure where the idea will go or if I'll even run with it, but for now...I worked a little on editing my current WIP, putting ink to paper today. I also spent some relaxing time picking out the tails and manes of two of my horses. Any horse people agree with me about how much fun that can be? Of course I had a little show sheen which is what made it actually relaxing and not frustrating. Lol :)Family portraits tomorrow, can't wait! Now I'm off to...well I'll research some and maybe put some ink to paper but...I get caught up in the research, what else can I say?!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Between yesterday and today I have managed to edit c.2 of D2 making it into c.4 and c.5 of D3. That's 52 pages and counting folks! Also I had the idea at the end of c.5(and also found it in my journal during phase D2) that I need to add in a scene here. Adding this scene fits the book to a T. There's just one problem...I haven't written that scene yet :o I am actually dreading it for the simple fact that I dread switching hats back and forth. It isn't that bad, really, just me being finicky. I'm not quite sure when I'll do it, either today or tomorrow, but I do know that I have to do it now. Otherwise I'll keep putting it off and forget it, kind of like I did while making D2 ;) On to other news. I gave baby Benedryl yesterday to help with his rash and it didn't :( So today I took him to see a nurse practitioniar who said that since he's so fair skinned, he'll be the first to get a rash and the last to have the rash. He said the rash should be gone in about/as long as 3 weeks. Yes, I said THREE WEEKS! But it's not bothering baby, so I'm going to work on not letting it bother me. Last night I did a quick, as in five minutes, work out with Rain and she of course did wonderful. I also took the time to hand graze both her and the old man, aka Foster. I watched my dvr'd recording of Degrassi and I am stoked about the final week of Degrassi, The Boiling Point. Hmmmm....ok, can't think of anything else to bore you with. Keep on writing!

Monday, August 23, 2010

I had a busy weekend. I spent Friday getting ready to go camp and then me, hubby, baby and a couple friends went camping. Baby has had it bad lately :( He had a fever Friday, which did go away. He ate over easy eggs Saturday and still has the rash! Sunday was ok, it was just busy for him. We did have a good time camping, hubby rode a jet ski, baby and I played on the play grounds a lot, we all went swimming and we had some awesome steaks, potatoes and pork 'n beans for dinner. Sunday morning, we got up at 6 and hardly anyone else was awake in the park! So we took our time packing up and then headed home. We spent the rest of the day with some of hubby's family and that night with my family. It was great! I haven't worked on my book since Thursday. That is next on my agenda. I've red inked 35 pages and applied the changes to Word. Now I'd like to read through those 35 pages and see if there's anything else I can catch before moving on to red ink some more! I hope you all are still trudging through! By the way, if you have any extra motivation laying around to get all that needs done, done, I'd love some!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Putting red ink and highlighter to paper equals aching muscles, seriously. I find myself scrunched over and clenching my pen as I squint at D2. It really is a lot easier for me to spot mistakes on paper but on the flip side if something needs a lot of rewording I find it easier to be pounding away at the keys. Oh well, best of both worlds, right?Anyways, last night I red inked the new 2nd chapter(aka the middle third of the old chapter 1) and then this afternoon I red inked the new 3rd chapter(aka the last third of the old chapter 1). Let's hope I can keep it up!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Ok, so yesterday I managed to red ink and highlight all over a total of 12 pages. This concludes the new end of chapter 1(I desperately need to rearrange chapters :) Today I'll have to work on rewriting the first half of chapter one, yet again(third draft, third write). Also today I walked about a mile to go to the post office and back :) Baby steps :) lol, sad considering how much I was working out before, but oh well. I'm lazy and I admit it.Good luck on whatever goals you have!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ok, a lot sorry, because I know that my blogging generally reflects how much I've been working on my WIP. Obviously it hasn't been much. I finished reading D2 yesterday and am going to start reading it again, but this time with a red pen and highlighters handy. Yes, I decided to print out D2 and I'll probably be printing out D3 too. I'm sorry to the trees. I don't much like the beginning, particularly the first couple chapters of my book. They were ROUGH. Of course, I remembered in the middle of the book that I rewrote quite a bit in the beginning which would explain why it was so rough. I do believe I will once again be rewriting the beginning. *Sigh* I have also slacked off on working with Rain and that may continue. I hate asking others to watch baby and hubby is starting off the fall/end of summer with a bang of activities. I need a job, a real job, until writing starts paying me and I admit that at this rate it's gonna be awhile before writing pays. *Sigh* I know, what a depressing first post in 2 weeks. I'm in a funk and I just read a couple posts at Deadline Dames which crushed any hopes I might have of having success in the next 20 years at writing. Oh well, onward onward. Seriously, you too, get to it!

Monday, August 9, 2010

It's funny how I always have them for why I don't blog enough! LOL. Anyways, this past week and a half I've been enjoying season 2 of True Blood thanks to Blockbuster. I still have the problem of making comparison's to the books, but still yet, True Blood has managed to get better and better. I'm extremely glad they cut back on Jason's sexual exploits and yet they exchanged it for all town orgies. Ugggg...just not my thing. But as for the rest of it, I'm addicted.In writing news I've printed out draft 2 and plan on reading it straight threw in the next few days. After the first read, I'll probably read through again making marks on it and creating D3 on the computer. As I complete D3 I plan on sending it out to a few beta/find all my mistakes readers :) In horsey news, after over a month, my two appaloosas are finally starting to explore my brother in laws. At home I'm trying to fatten up my old man :)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Well for the past week I've been completely vegging out. Ok, well the first few days I had the problem of couldn't get my mind off my book. In fact I was working on researching for the book, and how to query and agents I'd like to query. Lucky for me, Blockbuster combined with TB season 2 has allowed me to chill out. I want to be able to come at the 3rd draft fresh and I feel like now I'll be able to do that. However, I do face a problem right now that I'm feeling ready to take on D3. I feel like I need to read my book on paper straight through but I feel horrible about wasting paper/trees on such an unfinished book! Not to mention, my plan for my beta and editing readers is to pass on draft 3 chapter by finished chapter and some of those readers prefer a paper draft. That means printing off both D2 and D3(multiple times). What do you all think? On a side note I have a few confessions. This is my public, errrr, punishment for slacking off. I have not worked Rain in a week and I haven't worked out since Monday. I am a slacker and I am mostly ashamed. Especially as I zip up shorts that I am paranoid about being snug. I know, superficial but it's my downfall. Everyone worries about how they look, right? Even though many of us shouldn't. Ok, enough blathering. Have a nice day!

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Ok, so I’ve watched the first season of True Blood. I have to admit that I’ve never watched HBO before and so the first show made my jaw hit the floor and I was holding my hands up blocking out the TV as I asked my husband if they could really show what they were showing on TV. He said yes and really, I know it’s true anyways, ‘cause it’s not a dream.Once I got over watching some scenes that were, in my mind, better suited to porn and not to a TV show, I started critiquing the show. The first thing I didn’t like was that they made Sookie seem so…I don’t know, simple, dumb? I think that maybe I feel this way because I’ve read 9 Sookie books so far and I’ve seen her evolve as a character. I should go back and read book one again and see, but I don’t have time for that. Next, I’m not sure if I like the guy who plays Bill. Sometimes I look at him and think he is hot and other times I think he just looks silly. I’m not sure how I feel about Tara playing a more prominent role right away than I thought she played in the books, but watching Tara and Arlene it seems as though they’re being set up early on for later books. Plus I realize that with the limited time and space TV offers, some things have to move faster and be a little different for it to work. I recognize that’s why they focus so much on Jason being a flat out whore, but I respect the books more for their tactfulness.All in all, despite my complaints, I am watching season 1 quite avidly and enjoying myself. And after the first couple episodes, my critiquing has died down and I’ve been able to enjoy them more. I’m not sure if I’d watch the show if I hadn’t read the books, but it’s too late now. I will say, book vs. TV, book wins in my eyes. But that’s just one person’s opinion; of course, this is my blog ;)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I reached The End of D2 today! Here's some stat's:D1 has 230 pages; 75,697 words, and a very long prologue.D2 has 235 pages; 74,152 words and no prologue(I decided the book didn't it. Good thing, huh?)Now I'm going to take a few days off to let the book stew. Also I'll be reading Moon Sworn by Keri Arthur. It's the last book in the Riley series so I'm loking forward to it and almost, but not quite dreading it since it's the last one. I hope you guys are typing towards, or reading towards, The End.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

I just have to vent! I just read the blog about Tennessee Walking Horses over at the Fugly Horse of the Day Blog and I watched the videos. The showing TWH's look hideous! There is absolutely NOTHING attractive about the way they move. Somebody please explain to me why people want them to look like that? Why would you put those giant horse shoes and pads on a horse's feet? It makes no sense to me. I consider myself a middle of the road person when it comes to training techniques, so I'm not into gimmicks and I'm not into all natural. I think it's ok to shoe a horse and I also think that there are certain times where it is perfectly appropriate to leave a horse unshod. However I do not think it's right the way they shoe those horses. I don't know a lot about gaited horses, but from what I've seen, TWH aren't the only ones shod extremely(in my opinion.) I've seen some Saddlebreds that had some big honkin' shoes on them. I want a horse to move the best it can in a natural way to perform the job it's bred to do. A TWH can most definitely gait in regular or even no shoes, so why those giant shoes. That's not even mentioning the cruel soring that's going on. Heck, if my choice is to exercise in my husband's work boots, or to put diesel fuel on my feet, then wrap them in plastic and then work out in my own tennis shoes, I choose my husband's boots! But really, I'd rather just wear appropriate fitting, not super heavy tennis shoes over either option. Ok...I could go on and on and just repeat myself over and over because this makes me sooooo MAD! So, I'm going to stop and actually work on my book for the first time in several days. Bye now!

About Me

I have so many job titles just like any other person out there. But I am most proud to say I am a wife, mom, writer, animal lover and a Christian. Welcome to my world where mostly I'll tell you about my writing journey, but now and again I'll let you a little further into my crazy, beautiful, chaotic life(aka I have a husband, 2 kids, 2 cats, 1 dog, 2 horses, 19 chickens and a few cows).